Committee Chairman David J. Partridge said Wednesday the good work the company has done on the library project seemed to be a factor in the committee selecting it for the high school project.

The committee voted 4-2 Monday to make Strategic its choice. Partridge said Strategic ran “neck in neck” with Joslin-Lesser & Associates of Watertown for the job.

Committee members on Monday interviewed representatives from those two firms as well as from the other finalist for the work, Arcadis of Braintree.

The representatives made 20-minute presentations followed by 15- to 20-minute question-and-answer sessions.

Partridge said all three finalists are capable, but Strategic seemed to have the team members for the job.

It is now up to School Department officials to negotiate with Strategic.

“We all know it (the project) is on a tight timeline,” Partridge said.

Officials hope to send along their recommendation for a project manager to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by Oct. 12, with a contract being inked by Nov. 2.

The authority could reimbursement the city for as much as 80 percent of a school building project. It has accepted the city into its model schools program.

Acting Assistant School Superintendent Kevin A. McQuillan said it is difficult at such an early stage to estimate the cost of building a new school since not even preliminary designs have been done, but a ballpark figure would be $50 million to $80 million.

The low bid for Minnechaug High School in Wilbraham, which he said is comparable to West Springfield High School, was expected to come in at about $83 million, but came to $69 million, he said.

Taking part in the state’s model schools program, which allows for using designs from other schools, will help keep design costs down, according to him.

Officials want to build a new structure on the grounds of the current school, which was built in 1955 and added to in 1965. It is getting run down, and the